1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to food products and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to fabricated seafoods such as shrimp analogue meats and to their methods of preparation.
2. The Prior Art
The prior art includes many attempts at fabricating a variety of analogue meats from various protein sources. The problems faced are particular to the protein source employed due to differences in both physical structure and functional properties of the various protein sources. Thus, techniques useful for employing particular vegetable proteins may differ from fish sources, for example. Moreover, even within certain classes, e.g., vegetable proteins, techniques for using one, e.g., soy protein, may differ from another, e.g., wheat gluten. Moreover, useful techniques are also dependent upon the particular product which is being prepared, e.g., bacon vs. meat tidbits.
The present invention is directed to providing fabricated seafoods from fish protein materials. Ideally, the product prepared is low in cost yet provides textural characteristics as close to the real product as possible. Specifically, fabricated seafood products should exhibit the characteristic "bite" of the shellfish simulated. Additionally, the structure of the fabricated product should resemble the fibrous structure of shrimp muscle. Moreover, real shrimp are additionally characterized by a complex structure which is both aligned and fibrous. Also, real shrimp have a skin feature.
The prior art includes many attempts at fabricating low cost seafoods analogous to expensive shellfish such as crab or shrimp. Indeed, shrimp analogue meats are popular food items. Generally, such food items employ small shrimp or shrimp pieces, occasionally extended with other fish flesh, which are formed into larger size pieces by molding. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,505, issued Dec. 3, 1974 to Leon Rubin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,821, issued Jan. 23, 1973 to Ronswalli et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,686, issued Oct. 26, 1971 to Marshall). While these processes do form large formed shrimp with the "bite" of real shrimp in varying degrees, the formed shrimp do not have the fibrous internal structure of real shrimp. Moreover, such products have not found acceptance outside of breaded product application due to their appearance and texture deficiencies.
However, attempts have also been made to add a fibrous structure to formed shrimp products lacking in the above described products. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,017 (issued Jan. 28, 1975 to Mao Yueh) dried cod fibers were added to a fish paste from which the formed shrimp was heat set. U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,484 (issued Dec. 3, 1974 to J. M. Cabot) discloses a similar technique but substitutes soy fibers as the texture enhancer. (See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,083, issued Dec. 27, 1983 to S. Shenouda wherein fabricated protein fiber bundles using alginate gels as texture enhancers are disclosed). While these methods further improve the perceived texture of formed shrimp, the fibers are, however, randomly aligned unlike the more structured appearance of shrimp or crab.
Additionally, the art includes a number of imitation crab products that have been produced using a process similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,065, (issued June 12, 1979 to Sugino). In this process, a fish paste is extruded in a thin sheet and heat set. The sheet is then cut into strips which are bundled together to form a product with the linear fiber characteristics of crab. Although these products do have the internal structure of crab, the linear alignment of the fiber does not resemble the fiber structure found in shrimp.
Another fabricated seafood having a good texture is prepared and marketed by Taiyo Fisheries Co. The product is believed to comprise, generally, gelled, chopped surimi matrixed in an unstructured surimi base. However, in addition to being a complex and labor intensive product, the cross sectional appearance of the Taiyo fabricated shrimp is unrealistic in that the fibers are not linearly aligned.
It has now been surprisingly discovered that further improvements in the "bite" of fabricated seafoods can be provided by fabricating the products with a skin feature. The superior texture properties provided by the present invention reside in part in the discovery that the skin and the interior braided bundle each give different bite resistance. The eating sensation is therefore even closer to real shrimp or shellfish which are characterized by varying resistance as the piece is bitten. Moreover, it has been surprisingly discovered that further improvements can be made in the structure of fabricated seafoods additionally improving the texture of such products.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide fabricated shrimp having the texture and bite of real shrimp.
Another object of the present invention is to provide seafoods which are prepared from marine protein sources.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide fabricated shrimp having a fibrous texture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide fabricated shrimp wherein the fiber is structured or aligned analogous to real shrimp.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide formed seafoods having a skin portion which is dissimilar to the structured fibrous meaty interior.
Still another object is to provide processes for the provision of such products which are simple, limited in necessary steps, continuous or at least semi-continuous and not labor intensive.
It is surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and superior fabricated seafood meat analogues can be prepared. The analogue products are prepared by providing a particularly defined fish paste rope, forming a skin, texturizing the core of the rope in prescribed manner, firming the rope with heat, shaping the rope into pieces of predetermined size and shape, and then setting the pieces by application of heat.